Stadium Sponsorship Grows to New Levels

Teams are looking hard for sponsors to offset costs. The Colts stadium, for example, cost $719 million. All but $100 million of that was financed by food, beverage and other taxes from the Indianapolis area. And the $100 million paid by the Colts has already been covered by just the contract with Lucas Oil, which paid $121 million over 20 years to have the stadium named Lucas Oil Stadium. Teams are also eager to increase revenue through sponsorships because they are required to share some of their other revenue with other teams.

N.F.L. and Major League Baseball teams share revenue from television deals, merchandise and some ticket sales with other teams in the league. But stadium sponsorship money is not shared, so selling suites, naming rights and sections of a stadium to corporations is one of the ways a team can bolster its own revenues and stay competitive.

You have some larger-market, high-revenue teams that are making or bringing in potentially $100 million more than other teams, Mr. Ward of the Colts said. The new stadium in Indianapolis will never make us one of the high-revenue teams in the N.F.L., but itll keep us competitive.